Brownrigg, William

, an eminent physician, a
native of Cumberland, was born in 1711, and educated in
medical science at Leyden, under Albinus, Euler, and
Boerhaave. Having taken his medical degree in 1737, he
returned to his native country, and settled at Whitehaven,
where his practice became very extensive. About twenty
years before his death, he retired to Ormathwaite, where
he died, Jan. 7, 1800, in his eighty-ninth year, regretted
as a man of amiable and endearing virtues, and a most
skilful physician. His principal publications were, 1. His
inaugural thesis, “De Praxi medica ineunda,” Leyden,
1737, 4to. 2. “A treatise on the art of making common
Salt,” Lond. 1748, 8vo, which procured him the honour of
being chosen a fellow of the royal society. This work,
which has long been out of print, was praised by Chaptal
and bishop Watson for the profound knowledge of the subject displayed in it. 3. “An enquiry concerning the mineral elastic spirit contained in the water of Spa in Germany,” printed in the Philosophical Transactions, vol. LV.
4. A treatise, “On the means of preventing the communication of pestilent contagion.” A trip to the Spas of
Germany suggested to him the idea of analizing the properties of the Pyrmont springs, and of some others, and
led him into that train of nice and deep disquisition, which
terminated in the de-elementizing one of our elements,
and fixing its invisible fluid form into a palpable and visible
substance. All this he effected by producing the various
combinations of gases and vapours which constitute atmospheric air, and separating into many forms this long-supposed one and indivisible, whilst he solidified its fluid essence into a hard substance. That Dr. Brownrigg was the
legitimate father of these discoveries was not only known at
| the time to his intimate and domestic circle, but also to the
then president of the royal society, sir John Pringle; who,
when called upon to bestow upon Dr. Priestley the gold
medal for his paper of “Discoveries of the Nature and
Properties of Air,” thus observes, “And it is no disparagement to the learned Dr. Priestley, that the vein of these
discoveries was hit upon, and its course successfully followed up, some years ago, by my very learned, very penetrating, very industrious, but too modest friend, Dr.
Brownrigg.” To habits, indeed, of too much diffidence,
and to too nice a scrupulosity of taste, the world has to attribute the fewness of his publications. One of his literary
projects was a general history of the county of Cumberland, but it does not appear that he had made much progress. He assisted Mr. West, however, in his entertain*
ing.“Tour to the Lakes,” forming the plan of that popular work. 1

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